Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Yums in the Classroom & Kitchen

Say "synonym rolls" five times fast.

Impossible, right? Okay.. maybe not impossible, but rather difficult. I made you do that for a reason.. read on! Read on!

While grading our weekly Treasures assessment, I realized that my students struggled identifying synonyms in context. Yikes! I had a few ideas brewing in my head, but thanks to this delightful pin... my plans changed!

Luckily, Halloween was the perfect time to whip up a fresh batch of Synonym Rolls. It was the perfect attention-getter and way to spend time reviewing synonyms and using a beloved thesaurus.

As a class, we defined synonyms in our writer's notebooks. Then, we took the "boring word" said and thought of OTHER ways to say said. After creating quite the list, I introduced the rolls. Their assignment was to write the main/boring/overused word in the middle of the roll. Then, along the spirally goodness write words with similar meanings.

It was a great way for me to meet with small groups and talk about using a thesaurus and what synonyms really are.

For example: We picked the boring word "mean" for one roll. One student said, "Well, my sister is mean.. so can I add sister to my roll?" This sparked another discussion about what synonyms are and what they are not.

Synonyms! Synonyms! Synonyms!

Rollin' Up!

Oh snap! We're using a reference tool.. and it's FUN

Now, each of my students has a piping hot batch of synonym rolls waiting for them everyday in their Writer's Notebook.

Now, since I'm only talented in the sweet treats department, I have to include one of the recipes I'm preparing for book club on Thursday.

Practically Living is a brilliant blogger who posted a recipe for Two Ingredient Lemon Bars. This woman is brillant! Since there are only two ingredients in this dish... let's cross our fingers I don't mess this one up.

Practically Living

9:00!? It's bedtime. Plus, I've begun to italicize one too many things in this post. Time to depart.
Over and out, bloggers!